Detergent formulators are faced with the task of devising products to remove a broad spectrum of soils and stains from fabrics. Chemically and physico-chemically, the varieties of soils and stains range the spectrum from primarily oily, through proteinaceous and carbohydrate, to inorganic, and detergent compositions have become more complex as formulators attempt to provide products which handle all types, concurrently. For example, protease enzymes are commonly used in detergents for blood and gravy stains; amylase enzymes are used for carbohydrate stains; nonionic surfactants are used for hydrocarbon oils; and anionic surfactants and builders are used for particulate soil. Bleach is used to chemically degrade stains that are not amenable to removal by less rigorous treatment.
One of the most difficult stains to remove from fabrics is the cosmetic stain, and from time immemorial the persistent, telltale smudge of lipstick on a shirtcollar or handkerchief has been the downfall of many a miscreant. Moreover, the remarkable ability of the modern cosmetic industry to provide products which are more and more long-lasting on the user's skin necessarily means that today's cosmetics are increasingly persistent on fabrics to which they are unintentionally applied.
Chemically, many cosmetics comprise a clay base which serves in part as a filler, thickener, carrier for color bodies, and the like, blended with an oily material which serves partially as a binder, gloss agent and emollient. Cosmetics are typically manufactured with great care, such that the clay and color bodies are in the form of very fine particles, and are very thoroughly and completely mixed with, and coated by, the oily material, which may be a hydrocarbon oil, silicone, lipid, or complex mixtures thereof. While optimal from the standpoint of the cosmetic formulator, the modern cosmetic product causes major problems for the detergent formulator, since cosmetics constitute a mix of widely divergent soil types (oily, particulate, clay) all in intimate admixture and often brightly colored. No single detergent ingredient can reasonably be expected to handle such a complex milieu.
The present invention employs oil-removal solvents and clay-removal polyamines. The solvents dissolve the oil base of the cosmetics, thereby exposing their clay component to the polyamine materials which disperse and remove it from fabrics.
The use of solvents of the type employed in this invention as grease and oil removal ingredients in cleaners of various types is well-known commercially and from the patent literature. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2.073.464; EPO Application Nos. 0 072 488 and 81200540.3; and British Pat. No. 1.603.047.
However, the use of such solvents in combination with polyamine materials in the manner disclosed herein is not believed to have been contemplated, heretofore.